Thursday, September 6, 2012

Foil & Favorites

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I feel like I say this every month, but August really was
one long jam-packed party. Before we get to the next few, we had a little break
in festivities and actually got back to real life for a minute.

As crazy as things have been, we’ve
probably eaten out more than we like should, and eaten stupid meals like
pasta with red sauce dumped on top wayyy more than we’d like. With that being
said, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite Atlanta Gluten-free friendly
quick-bite restaurants. Most of these we found on accident, so get ready for
some of the best kept GF secrets ever.

Cameli’s Pizza: I don’t remember exactly how we discovered
this little gem. I think I was googling gluten-free pizza places in Atlanta or
something. They have the most delicious gluten-free crust ever, and their
“specialty” pies are loaded with all of my favorite foods/toppings like
artichoke hearts, spinach, tomatoes, feta cheese, etc. It’s hard for me to pick
just one. It’s also great because non-gluten free folks (Chris) like it too! A
location just opened right around the corner from our house in Little 5 Points…we’re
excited.

What I get: My favorite right now is the Smart Pie, which
has sun-dried tomato sauce, spinach, roasted potatoes (weird, I know!), roasted
red peppers, and gorgonzola cheese. I’m not a huge red pepper fan, so I replace
those with artichoke hearts. A 10” is $8.50 + 2 bucks for the gluten-free
crust. I can eat it for lunch and dinner, so $10.50 for two meals ain’t half
bad.

Victory Sandwich Bar: This little Inman Park spot is super
fun, and we initially came for the drinks. They have some awesome cocktails and
a great front porch, so we love walking up there and meeting friends. I’d heard
that they had great food, but since it’s a sandwich place, I assumed it was a
no-go for me. I was looking on the Pure Knead website, which is a gluten-free
bakery in Atlanta, and noticed that their products were featured at Victory!
Chris had tried it before and loved it, so we finally went together, and I’m so
glad we did. The sandwiches are just
your run of the mill Turkey clubs. The ingredients are fresh and delicious, and
they all sound amazing and right up my alley. Their sandwiches are little, so
you can get two different ones…how perfect. OH, and we saw Owen Wilson there.
Yep, we’re famous.

What I get: I’ve gotten something different every time, but
my favorites so far are The Hambo and The Mile High Club. The Hambo is
prosciutto, mozzarella, arugula, apple, and reduced balsamic. The Mile High is
smoked turkey, bacon, ham (which I go without), avocado, fontina cheese, and
Dijon mustard (which I also do away with).

Yeah! Burger: I think we’ve mentioned this place before, but
it’s totally worth mentioning again. We love everything about it from the
grass-fed beef to the organic toppings options to the sweet potato fries. And
not to mention everything has a GF option. Another side-note…they have an
awesome frequent eater rewards program thing. Members get a $10 credit for
their birthday, and points that turn into free side items and stuff. Awesome.

What I get: Again, I change it up here a lot. I haven’t had
anything I didn’t like. If I had to pick a favorite, I guess I’d have to say
the grass-fed beef burger with Swiss cheese, grilled onions, tomatoes, and
sliced avocado on a GF bun. Then we like to split a side of sweet potato fries.
YUM.

As much as we like eating out, I don’t need to explain how
expensive it can get, and how eating at home is way healthier. Have no fear;
we’ve cooked some too.

I’ve been really into grilling out, and I’m getting more
comfortable with it each time we do it.
Our grill is a little janky, and let's just say we struggled the first few times we grilled on our own. A while back, we tried foil-packet cooking with pork chops. The whole
process fascinates me. The meat and veggies turned out equally delicious and
tender, and the clean up was too simple for words. So we decided to try
grilling foil packets. We based it off of the first foil packet recipe we used,
but pretty much made it up as we went.

Place the corn directly on the grill. They’ll take the longest to
cook.

Cut 3 sheets of foil about 18 inches long, and then fold
them in half. Or you can use one layer of heavy-duty foil if you have it.

Place one chicken breast in the center of each piece of foil.

Wash and cut the broccoli, then place a medium sized chuck
next to each piece of chicken.

Squirt the desired amount of BBQ sauce on each piece of
chicken and even the broccoli if you’d like.

Fold and seal the packets, leaving room inside of the packet
for steaming.

Once the grill is ready, place the packets on the grill for
20 -25 minutes. The corn should be good to go by this time as well.

Cut the chicken breasts in half to be sure they’re no longer
pink in the middle.

The chicken and veggies were super moist and tender and had
great grill flavor. We didn’t put anything on our corn, but adding a little butter
and salt would probably be tasty too. We added a little extra BBQ sauce to our plates for dipping purposes as well.

We ate off of the china, and our plates of food were beautiful
inside and out. The meal was fantastic! And clean up was a breeze. We’re
excited to grill out more this fall, especially veggies. Cooking in foil has
endless possibilities; so stay tuned for change-ups in the future.

About Me

24 and doing my thing. With this blog, I plan to support, inspire, and document my journey through life as a gluten-free non-cook. I have days where I’m tempted beyond belief, I have days where I can’t for the life of me decide what I want to eat, and I have days when I can’t get enough, so stay tuned!